A liberal group is fundraising off of fundraising off Benghazi

It’s come to this: A liberal advocacy group launched a fundraising drive this week around the House select committee on Benghazi that criticizes Republican groups for launching fundraising drives around the select committee on Benghazi.

People for the American Way, a D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes a range of liberal policies, sent a fundraising pitch to supporters this week that blasted Republicans for “exploiting the tragic deaths of four Americans” in order to “raise funds and rally their base.” The message ended with a plea for PFAW supporters to make a donation and renew their membership.

Last week, after House Republican leaders announced plans to launch a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack on an American compound in Benghazi, Libya, the National Republican Congressional Committee wrote a fundraising plea based on the new panel. "House Republicans will make sure that no one will get away from Gowdy and the Select Committee. This is going to be a national effort for a national investigation," the page read. "Help fight liberals by donating today."

“Fundraising off the Benghazi tragedy is despicable and insulting and has no place in the national conversation,” New York Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement last week.

Many Republicans, including the select committee’s chairman, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, have asked groups not to fundraise off the panel.

When asked about the PFAW fundraising page, a DCCC spokesman rejected using the lingering controversy over the events in Benghazi for financial gain.

“Doesn’t matter what party, nobody should be using the Benghazi tragedy to raise money,” a DCCC spokesman told Yahoo News.

An email to PFAW was not immediately returned.

On Thursday the Republican-majority House voted 232-186 to establish the select committee on Benghazi. House Democrats are still considering whether they will participate by appointing members to the committee. The White House has been publicly coy about how it plans to respond to the proceedings.